SATELLITE DISHES SIGNAL NEW DIRECTION IN TV

To some they`re a big eyesore, to others a big eye through which a cornucopia of video programming becomes visible.

They`re called downlinks, Earth stations, TVROs (TV receive only) and dishes. They are, in effect, TV antennas. The dishes pull in programming intended for use by TV stations and cable systems.

By the year`s end, 1.6 million to 1.9 million such dishes will sit next to houses or on rooftops, in rural communities and cities across the country, according to SPACE (Society for Private and Commercial Earth Stations), a lobbying group based in Alexandria, Va.

In 1978, when a 20-foot satellite dish graced the cover of the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue, it was priced at $36,500.

Today, technological improvements have made dramatic reductions in dish size and price possible without loss of signal quality.

For less than $3,000 (lower if you handle the installation yourself) you can buy a 7 1/2-foot, motor-driven dish capable of panning Chicago`s horizon and collecting enough signals to receive excellent reception of more than 100 channels, said Tom Pohl, spokesman for Birdview Satellite Communications Inc., a TVRO manufacturer based in Overland Park, Kan. Such a dish could collect signals from any of the 17 North American communication satellites that hover 22,300 miles above the equator.

All but the least-expensive systems, which are mounted to point at one satellite and can be had for $1,995 installed, come with a remote control, permitting you to switch from one satellite to another, Pohl said.

TVROs have become one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer electronics industry--last year surpassing projection TV sales in total units, according to the Electronics Industries Association. Pohl said his company sold 11,000 TVRO systems from July through September. ''About 72 percent of our sales are in rural areas, the rest in cities,'' he said.

Sales are expected to get an additional boost after mass merchandisers such as Radio Shack begin to offer them early next year.

In spite of that, this space-age product faces several constraints. Local zoning ordinances in some parts of the country have either limited or banned their installation.

Grounds for restriction are usually esthetic or financial, SPACE said. Some residents object to the dishes` appearance; others fear a drop in neighboring property values.

As a result, communities such as Youngstown, Ohio, and Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., are considering banning dishes from front and side yards, preventing some would-be dish owners from achieving necessary line of sight to the satellites.

Another example is Chicago. Here, installing a dish on your property requires going through the same procedure as someone who wants to build a shopping mall or industrial park. Installation if a TVRO is regarded as a planned development.

After filling out a stack of papers to apply for a zoning amendment

--which includes drawing a map and disclosing ownership of the property

--you have to notify all property taxpayers within 250 feet of the planned installation before filing the papers with the city clerk. And there`s a fee of $500.

Your request then would be introduced to the city council, which would refer it to the plan commission for a public hearing. If it made it that far

--meaning that none of your neighbors showed up to complain--it would be sent back to the full city council for a vote.

To date, 35 private and commercial dish owners have successfully gone through this 2 1/2- to 4-month process. But as one planning department employee said, there are a ''lot more than 35 dishes out there.''

This process might one day be challenged in court, said Chuck Hewitt, executive vice president of SPACE.

Acting on a SPACE petition, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to reach a decision ''within a few weeks,'' on whether ''to declare Earth stations as part of the interstate communications network . . . in essence, saying dishes are a federal interest, not a local one,'' and on whether to ban all local zoning that ''unreasonably restricts their installation,'' he said.

''Chicago`s laws are a de facto ban. Hopefully (if the FCC adopts the rule) cities will on their own drop their unfair regulations. If not, we`ll take one or two test cases to court.''

Other legislation involving satellite dishes has to do with access to satellite signals.

For years, HBO (Home Box Office) and other major program suppliers have not looked kindly on back yard dish owners, calling them pirates and threatening to scramble satellite signals to prevent free reception.

HBO has finally taken action on these threats. All of HBO`s cable company customers have had descramblers installed, and this largest of program suppliers has begun to test its multimillion dollar scrambling system a few hours each day.

HBO also has announced the availability of a $395 descrambler for dish owners. Not yet set is the additional monthly subscription fee, which industry sources suggest may be $12.95. SPACE considers the entire plan too costly.

On Sept. 9, U.S. Sen. Albert Gore (D., Tenn.) introduced a bill that, if passed, would require programmers to deal fairly with dish owners and make programming available at a ''reasonable cost.'' A similar bill was introduced in the House last March by Rep. W.J. Tauzin (D., La.). Also pending is a bill by Rep. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) calling for a two-year moratorium on all scrambling to allow time for a single system to be developed. If the trend continues unchecked, each programmer could develop its own scrambling technique, which would require dish owners to buy a costly decoder for each channel.

SPACE has argued that whatever is transmitted through the airwaves lies within the public domain, and everyone has the right of free access.

That argument was acknowledged last year when President Reagan signed the Cable Communications Act. A rider to the bill, the Satellite Viewing Rights Act, also drafted by Gore, legalized reception of all unscrambled programming. But viewers are subject to a fine, even a jail term, if caught with a bootlegged decoder.

The law also bans dish owners from receiving unscrambled signals if the programmer has a marketing plan that allows them to become subscribers.

For example, if the Weather Channel (a 24-hour weather report), carried on the Satcom 3 satellite, ran an ad in any national publication telling dish owners they could subscribe for $35 a year, receiving the signal without paying would be illegal. Short of having a ''Video Police Force'' invade owner`s homes, however, it is nearly impossible to enforce this provision.

Recognition of TVROs as legal accessories is expected to increase consumer interest in cutting out the cable company as middleman and buying programming directly from suppliers.

TVROs work by picking up signals from satellites. These satellites are in geosynchronous orbit, which means they circle the Earth every 24 hours and appear to remain stationary in the sky. This heavenly outpost is called the Clarke orbit in honor of British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who was the first to suggest the idea of stationary communication satellites in 1945--12 years before the launch of Sputnik 1.

Each satellite has 12 or 24 transponders (channels) that pick up and amplify microwave signals transmitted from large dishes, or uplinks, on Earth. The signals, in the frequency band of 3.5 to 6 gigahertz, are retransmitted to Earth by the transponders and are collected in TVRO dishes made of solid or mesh metal, fiber glass or plastic.

A low noise amplifier mounted in front of the dish concentrates the signals, passing them through a downconverter that lowers their frequency before sending them through a cable to the receiver. The receiver, which looks like a stereo component, is hooked up to the television.

What else could this mean to you--besides giving you that excellent reception of more than 100 channels? Well, say you`re a Ted Koppel fan: With your own dish you could pick up the ABC network feed of Nightline to its affiliates by tapping into Satcom 4. While viewers who don`t own dishes were being sold soap, you`d get to watch Koppel do whatever he does during the commercials.